


We're Born Again

by MikeWritesThings



Series: demigods [2]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Percy Jackson Fusion, Canon-Typical Violence, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, Friendship, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Making Out, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Road Trips, Trans Octane | Octavio Silva
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:33:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28687179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikeWritesThings/pseuds/MikeWritesThings
Summary: "We looked so sexy when we destroyed that Sam's Club," Octavio said."We didnotdestroy the Sam's Club," Taejoon said back.(Or:Searching for their missing friend Anita, Taejoon and Octavio find themselves on the opposite end of the country with a few new friends. Taejoon's past experiences in Tartarus suddenly come back to haunt him.)
Relationships: Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Octane | Octavio Silva, Loba Andrade/Bangalore | Anita Williams
Series: demigods [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2102661
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	We're Born Again

**Author's Note:**

> hewwo !! direct sequel to my percy jackson AU "Until The Sun Comes Up" , i hope the 12 people that read that fic enjoy this ! :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if u do not know what a sams club is its just costco

Taejoon and Octavio hadn't meant to destroy the Sam's Club.

In all fairness, it hadn’t been _their_ fault. At least...not _entirely_. Or rather...not _intentionally_? Okay, look, things looked really bad for Taejoon, and Octavio certainly was _not_ helping.

And why were they in a Sam’s Club in Austin, Texas in the first place, you may ask?

Because—

“That stupid satyr has gotta be around here somewhere,” Octavio drawled, standing in front of the store with a bored expression on his face. “If he’s not in the parking lot, then—”

“Then we’d have to go inside,” Taejoon said, adjusting his jacket more tightly around himself to protect him from the high winds. “But you need a membership to do that, don’t you?”

Octavio just gave him a look, like he was seriously considering doing something awful. And knowing _him_ , it would probably end up in the both of them getting hurt. 

“C’mon,” Octavio said, and then made his way towards the entrance. Taejoon was hesitant to follow him, but it was rainy out, and he was already shivering. He looked behind him into the beat-up red Toyota that the two of them had just gotten out of.

“Wait for us?” Taejoon asked, and the newest addition to their ragtag team, Ramya, gave him a bored thumbs-up. She was looking at something on her phone, the dark lines of her tattoo barely hidden by her sleeve. She was normally more rambunctious, but ten hours on the road could do a lot to people. Even to people like Ramya and his boyfriend, whom energy drinks seemed to take inspiration from.

Taejoon trudged after Octavio, making sure that his sword was safely inside its sheath this time around. Back at the White Sands National Park he’d accidentally forgotten his sword in the hotel room and had nearly died to a giant scorpion. And he _meant_ giant—monstrous, the size of an eighteen-wheeler with a stinger so terrifying he still had nightmares about it. He was lucky to be alive after forgetting his weapon like an idiot.

(“Don’t worry about it, mate,” Ramya had said as she wrapped up his leg with a bandage, smacking gum. “You just owe me one.”

“THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE,” Octavio screamed from where he was riding around on the back of the scorpion. Yeah, Taejoon hadn’t had a very pleasant experience at the White Sands National Park.)

Walking into Sam’s Club, Taejoon tried to catch the younger man’s eye, trying to see what his game plan was, but Octavio kept his gaze forward as if intentionally ignoring him. A woman stopped them and asked for their Sam’s Club card. He was prepared to be turned away from entering, but to his surprise Octavio pulled his wallet out and flipped it open, showing it to her. She nodded and allowed them to pass.

They walked in silence for about ten feet until Taejoon spoke up.

“We’ve been dating—”

“Shut up.”

“—for two months—”

“Silencio.”

“—and you didn’t tell me that you had a Sam’s Club membership.”

“Okay, it’s not _mine,_ ” Octavio said back with a huff, twirling his beaded necklace around his index finger. “It’s my father’s. What’s the point of being rich if I can’t use daddy’s Sam’s Club card?”

Taejoon raised an eyebrow. “I thought you disowned your father?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t disown his _money_.” Octavio suddenly pointed at the in-store café. “I’m gonna go get an ICEE.”

Taejoon fought back a smile. "You’re unbelievable.”

“C'mon, cariño, they have watermelon! You want one?”

“...Do they have blue?”

“Yup.”

“Fine.”

Five minutes later they were walking around the huge warehouse with their slushies, keeping a lookout for a satyr. The whole reason they were here in the first place was because they were looking for their friend, Anita Williams, who had been missing for about four months now. They’d gone to L.A., at first, asking her family if they’d seen her to no avail—and somewhere along the way back they'd picked up Ramya, got into a fight with Kymopoleia (yeah, the _goddess_ ) and received a message from someone claiming they knew of her whereabouts.

This someone was a mysterious satyr who wanted to meet them at this Sam’s Club, but he hadn’t given any specifics beyond that, so here they were. Looking at bulk packages of things like baby wipes and ramen noodles.

Octavio picked up a package of animal crackers. “Maybe we should get some stuff. We’re on a road trip, after all.”

Taejoon sighed. He supposed he had a point—if nothing came of this visit, they could at least grab some food for the road. The prices, however, made him balk a little. Twelve dollars for cans of chili...

Maybe that was just pocket change to someone like Octavio, but to Taejoon, who had spent years on the run, rationing the little money he had to bus tickets and the occasional dollar menu meal from McDonald’s, the idea of spending so much money on food in bulk like this was...

“ _Psst!_ ” 

Taejoon startled a little, looking around for whoever had made that noise, but all he could see was the customers of Sam’s Club, pushing their huge carts around and looking a little out of it in their search of more, more, _more_. He heard the noise again, and shot Octavio a look, who was now craning his neck up at the high shelves to get a better look at the snacks up there.

“Do you hear that?” Taejoon asked, but right as he finished speaking a soda can came rocketing towards them and hit Octavio’s brow with a sharp sound.

“ _Ow!_ ” The shorter man cried, hand jumping up to masssge the area where he had been hit. Taejoon dropped his ICEE and gently moved the man's hand away, trying to get a good look at the damage. Seeing a tiny cut, he turned and stomped in the direction that the can had came from, because _nobody_ was going to hurt his boyfriend and get away with it.

Rounding the corner, he suddenly found who had been calling for him.

It was a Sam’s Club employee—a janitor, probably—crouched beside the huge packages of Mountain Dew they had passed by earlier, his janitorial cart next to him. However, where janitors would normally put water for mopping, was instead filled with the familiar sight of the yellow-green carbonated _monstrosity_ that was Mountain Dew. Despite how bizarre it was, Taejoon would recognize that stuff anywhere; Octavio practically inhaled Mountain Dew.

“Uh.” Taejoon blinked at the janitor before him, who was wearing a baggy blue uniform. “Did you just throw a can at my boyfriend?”

“Yeah,” the janitor said. “I’m Pecan. The satyr.”

“Pecan,” Taejoon repeated.

“Yeah, I know. Dumb name. That’s what happens when your brothers are named Cashew and Almond.”

“I’m...sorry?” He had fully been intending on kicking this guy's ass, but now he was just confused.

“I get that a lot. But anyways, pal, I’m _so_ glad you’re here.” Pecan the Satyr reached into an opened box of Mountain Dew, pulling one of the cans out, before popping the tab and pouring the drink into his janitorial cart. When he was finished he took a huge nervous bite out of the aluminum can. “I’ve been waiting for a demigod for weeks! This place is scary.”

Octavio had finally joined up with Taejoon, looking a little miffed by the fact that he’d been beaned by a soda can, though he froze when he saw the satyr before him. 

“Dude,” Octavio said as Pecan finished the rest of his can. “What are you _doing?_ ”

Pecan repeated his earlier process. Octavio looked offended on behalf of the Mountain Dew in his cart.

“She’s getting stronger,” the satyr whimpered around a mouthful of metal as Taejoon and Octavio exchanged glances that read _'this goat is crazy'._ “C’mon, can’t you _feel_ it? That... _want_ in you to buy things? _Food_?”

“We’re in a Sam’s Club, of course we wanna buy things,” Octavio said. “There’s a sixteen pack of Nutella & Go calling my name right now.”

“But that’s not normal!” Pecan cried. “Why would you want _sixteen_ of them?!”

“Look,” Taejoon interjected before this bizarre conversation could continue. “We’re here because you said you had information for us. About Anita Williams.”

Pecan looked him up and down, chewing the remains of his can remorsefully. “Oh, son of Nemesis, surely _you_ know about fairness and balance. If I give you the deets, you’ve gotta do this thing for me. Fair and square, right?”

“What thing?” Octavio asked, suddenly interested as he slurped from his ICEE. Leave it to his boyfriend to perk up at the slightest hint of danger, and Pecan the Satyr’s whimpering spoke of it. Taejoon rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to get them back on track once again, but Pecan had jumped at the opportunity to explain himself.

“Oh thank you, son of Dionysus, it’s really—I mean, it’s bad—she’s always—and the hellhound—and the discount fishsticks—”

His mumbling had become garbled and almost incoherent as he wrapped his body even more tightly around his janitorial cart, as if it were anchoring him to this world. Taejoon took a deep breath, slightly annoyed. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, and pulled it out to see a message from Ramya saying that she was bored.

“We have somewhere to be,” Taejoon told Pecan. “If you give us the information, we’ll come back to you in a couple of days and clear up your problem. Right now, we have to—”

“But I wanna fight a monsterrrrr,” Octavio whined.

“You _always_ want to fight a monster, Octavio.” Taejoon paused, before looking back down at Pecan. “This _is_ about a monster?”

Pecan nodded. _Damn it._

“Are the mortals in any immediate danger?”

“Are you telling me you two don’t feel it?” Pecan whispered, weird goat-eyes wide. “That hunger?”

Well, now that the satyr had mentioned it, he _was_ kind of hungry, but that was because he hadn’t eaten since this morning, when they’d stopped at a Waffle House at five A.M. Ramya had swung them into the parking lot so abruptly she’d woken he and Octavio up from their nap, and she’d declared that she was getting food whether they liked it or not.

( _"Get up, lovebirds!" Ramya had said loudly as Octavio peeled his face from Taejoon's chest, his shirt having stuck to his skin due to sweat. His boyfriend had been laying on top of Taejoon in the backseat, and he didn't remember how they had gotten there, but he instantly mourned the loss of him. "It's five and I want steak and eggs!"_ )

That had been roughly seven hours ago, though, so he was reasonably hungry now. Exchanging glances with Octavio once again, Taejoon made a _so-so_ gesture with his hand. Octavio gave a shrug in return.

“Guys,” Pecan said, voice getting even lower, so they both had to lean close to hear him speak. “It’s _her_ work—she’s the manager here, makes everyone hungry, makes everyone want to buy more. Look at the line to the food court! _Who_ lines up like this for Sam’s Club pizza?”

“I do kinda want one of the churros,” Octavio admitted.

“That’s _her_ doing! It’s all the work of Limos and her—”

A light fixture overhead burst. Taejoon looked up at it with wide eyes, trying to recall the name _Limos_ because it sounded familiar. To his left, he heard a haunting voice echo throughout the Sam’s Club,

“Hello, little heroes. I see you have found me.”

“What,” Octavio said.

Emerging from the aisle in which the light fixture had burst—the pasta aisle—came a spindly woman, with patchy hair the color of dust framing her gaunt face. Her limbs were so thin that they resembled sticks more than anything else. Her skin was flaky, and her eyes so sunken that Taejoon couldn’t tell what her eye color was. And to top it all off, she was wearing a Sam’s Club employee uniform.

“Oh fuck yeah,” Octavio said enthusiastically, drawing his knife from its place on his thigh. The woman turned her face to him, looking overall unimpressed. As she stepped further into the light, Taejoon saw that her jaw was mangled, disfigured like it had almost been torn from her face.

“Son of Dionysus,” she said, and her voice reverberated as though she were speaking inside a cavern. “I can feel your hunger from here...”

“I was drinking an ICEE, señorita, I’m not that hungry.”

“Octavio,” Taejoon murmured, but his boyfriend was already surging forward, knife at the ready as he made a direct beeline for the woman. Her nametag read _Limos_.

Limos was able to dodge Octavio’s knife easily, simply turning to the side. Her body was so thin that it was really easy to miss her, and that’s what Octavio kept doing with every swing at her. Miss after miss, he was unable to get a scratch on her. Taejoon sighed, pulling his own sword from its sheath before looking down at Pecan, who was trembling.

“You mentioned a hellhound, right?” Taejoon asked, and Pecan nodded with yet another whimper.

“Well, normally she hangs in the Underworld, but she came up here and brought it w-with her...its name is Chunky...”

“Alright. Go wait outside, we’ll meet you there. And try to take the mortals out with you, okay?”

Pecan scampered off without another word, and Taejoon sighed to himself as he turned to see his boyfriend still taking swipes at Limos. 

“You seem to be having trouble,” Limos said quietly, and Octavio stamped his metal foot in frustration, face screwed up.

“Dammit, why is it so hard to stab you? Hey, lady, stay still!”

“I don’t think I will,” she said in her weird echoing voice. “But you can play with Chunky. Chunky is so, so hungry.”

"Who the hell is _Chunky?_ "

She raised her hand and whistled. The whistle bounced around inside the warehouse, and a howl was heard in the distance. Taejoon surged forward and grabbed hold of Octavio’s wrist, yanking him back and forcing him to hide behind the stack of Mountain Dew boxes.

“Octavio, she’s got a hellhound,” Taejoon said, and Octavio let out an enthused ‘hell yeah’. “No, it’s not _hell yeah_ —I need you to get the mortals _moving_.”

"But I wanna fight!"

"You can fight _after_ you get everyone out, okay?"

Octavio gave him a pout, but nodded all the same. They’d gotten better at working as a team these past few weeks, which was a little impressive considering the fact that they hadn’t trained together in four years. He watched his boyfriend inhale deeply, before springing to his metal feet and running towards the mortals who were still shopping in a zombielike manner, screaming,

“ _FIRE! THERE’S A FIIIIIIRE!_ ”

There was, of course, no fire at all, but Octavio ramped up the intended panic and fear that he wanted the mortals to feel, and Taejoon heard them all begin to scream. He could feel distant echoes of those emotions inside of him too, but being used to Octavio’s powers by now, he was hardly affected. Having a boyfriend who caused madness could come in handy sometimes.

Taejoon peered over his blockade of Mountain Dew, seeing burning red eyes in the darkness of the aisle with its light fixture out. Being a son of Nemesis, Taejoon felt at home in the shadows and could often hide within them easily, but he had a feeling that that wouldn’t work against the hellhound approaching him.

“Go, Chunky,” he heard Limos’s ghostly voice. “Dinner.”

Hearing a familiar nasty snarl, Taejoon’s body tensed as he prepared to throw himself out from behind the boxes, counting in his head as he heard the claws of the beast hitting the linoleum form. _One, two..._

_Three!_

Rolling out from behind the boxes just as the hellhound burst through the stack of soda packages, Taejoon readied his sword, prepared to drive it through a beast the size of a rhinoceros—but he was instead met with the pathetic-looking creature that Limos was supposedly keeping as a pet.

It was a hellhound, no doubt, but its skin was hanging off of it and he could see its ribs. Its fur was falling out and its tail was almost sad to look at. Taejoon had seen a lot of starving street dogs growing up in L.A., and that’s what Chunky the Hellhound looked like. Hardly chunky at all.

Chunky the Hellhound gave a guttural growl as it realized its dinner had just run away, turning its hate-filled red eyes on him, and Taejoon gave a little wave of his hand, beckoning it towards him. It should be easy to fight this monster, seeing it in this state—but he was unprepared for the speed in which Chunky barrelled towards him with, its jowls dripping saliva all across the floor.

Taejoon was used to hellhounds being a little slower, seeing as they were so large, but Chunky was not as big as other hellhounds and was starving on top of that, so he stumbled backwards with a yelp and accidentally tripped into a little shelf full of Pringles.

Taejoon scrambled to his feet, swinging his sword at the monster, but it dodged him, impossibly fast. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Limos standing with her arms spread open, eyes relaxed shut. He had a feeling that Chunky must be tied to her—why else would it not return to the Underworld or else run out and do its own thing?

The poor creature was starving, nothing but skin and bone, clearly craving a Taejoon Sandwich...and Taejoon was starting to feel the effects of her now. She must be cranking up her power. 

He was really hungry now. The ICEE he’d had just a couple of minutes ago churned in his stomach, and the packages of Pringles scattered around his feet looked super tempting. Wondering if Chunky would chase after food, he kicked one of the packages as far as he could, but the hellhound didn’t seem at all distracted.

Which was fair, he supposed—it didn’t really have opposable thumbs and probably couldn’t open the stupid cardboard box the Pringles were in. Really, who bought Pringles in fifty packs, anyway?

Taejoon hadn’t really been anticipating a fight, so he hadn’t brought any of his tools or gadgets with him. He wasn’t really the most skilled when it came to sword combat—where the hell had Octavio gone? He was way handier with that knife, and Taejoon could use him right about now. 

He turned on his heel and dodged Chunky’s snapping jaw again, discovering in the process that the hellhound could not easily make turns. Getting an idea, Taejoon bolted down an aisle marked ‘coffee’, running past shelves of filters and grounds. Chunky chased after him, still growling, as Taejoon turned abruptly at the corner and kept running down a different aisle. He heard Chunky crash into the wall behind him, unable to turn like him, and it let out a whimper before he heard its claws clicking after him again.

As far as strategies went, this one was just to buy him time to think up a new plan until Octavio got here. Going up and down the aisles, Taejoon started yelling the other man’s name, looking behind him every so often to see the hellhound still hot on his heels. He could hear the mortals on the other side of the store rushing to exit the building, terrified of the nonexistent fire, but his boyfriend was nowhere to be found. 

Taejoon reached the end of the aisles, emerging out into the main part of the warehouse, where he could see Limos still standing there with her arms spread. His stomach was rumbling almost painfully at this point, making him want to double over in pain instead of running, but he knew that if he did that he would become puppy chow. He kept sprinting towards her, hearing Chunky crash abruptly into the tall shelves behind him.

Despite the hellhound’s thinness, it still managed to make the shelves full of paper plates and the like wobble, precarious, before it seemed to fall over in slow motion, crashing into another shelf. Taejoon ran alongside the domino effect, sword held out as he ran straight towards Limos. Octavio had had a hard time with his shorter blade, but maybe with Taejoon’s sword he could...

Before it could connect with her thin body, Taejoon felt a pang of hunger so deep in him that he cried out and tripped forward, skidding across the floor as his sword clanged to the ground. He curled up in a ball, trying to alleviate the pain in his stomach, but it didn’t even seem to be concentrated just there anymore—clawing its way over his body, held in a metaphorical death grip of sudden starvation. 

He was hungry, hungrier than he’d ever been in his life, and he almost didn’t want to get up right now. Didn’t want to fight this hellhound, didn’t want to grab his sword, didn’t want to keep looking for his missing friend. All he wanted was to crawl his way towards that unopened pack of animal crackers on the ground...and...

Claws dug sharply into his shoulders, and Taejoon let out a moan of hunger mixed with pain, peeling his eyes open to come face-to-face with his death. The glowing red eyes of the hellhound made something shudder throughout him, memories of last year making their unpleasant return.

No longer was he riddled with hunger pains, but rather the tortuous atmosphere of Tartarus, the deepest pit of hell...clawing his way up from its depths, ragged and filthy...he didn’t know which stains on him were blood and which were dirt...didn’t know what parts of his body weren’t injured, wasn’t sure that a single part of his body _was_ uninjured...

Staring into the burning eyes of hell, Taejoon was struck by one memory. Trying to contact Octavio, who he knew must be back at camp. Trying to send an Iris message despite the distinct lack of light. Wanted to say _goodbye_ before dying, because he hadn’t said goodbye before leaving camp. Had left behind the man he cared for and all the friends he had made, left them wondering where he’d gone, all for this futile quest to rescue his sister from...

“Hey, ugly!”

Suddenly, the weight on Taejoon disappeared, and he realized that Chunky the Hellhound had leaped off of him, instead barreling towards the source of Octavio’s voice. Managing to roll over onto his stomach, Taejoon saw the beast scarfing down a pile of meat on the floor. Octavio stood over it, a bunch of empty meat cartons laying beside him. 

“You’re welcome, babe,” Octavio said cheekily, but Taejoon couldn’t speak past the dryness in his mouth, still filled with hunger. How come Octavio wasn’t curled up right now, moaning in pain? How come...

With a jolt Taejoon realized that those shelves had finished falling, and when he looked over his shoulder he saw a pile of yellow dust where Limos had once stood.

“Man, that was anticlimactic,” Octavio complained. “She got crushed by the shelves.”

So she had died, then? But...but why was he so hungry, still?

Octavio seemed to realize that something was wrong, too. “Aw, man. Here, c’mon, let’s get you some food, there’s food all over the place.”

His boyfriend disappeared and returned a minute later with a hot dog, fully cooked and doused in relish, the way he liked it.

“Where—?” Taejoon asked after he had eaten the whole thing in a few short seconds, and Octavio jerked his thumb towards the Sam’s Club café. 

“They’ve got pizza if you want some, too.”

Taejoon nodded, still feeling hungry, but thankfully not like he was on the verge of death. His boyfriend returned with an entire pie, sausage and pepperoni, and he ate three whole slices before he felt somewhat satiated.

His boyfriend was practically vibrating on his feet, though he stilled when he felt Taejoon's fingers on his jaw, looking him over for any injuries.

"Are you hurt?" Taejoon asked, and Octavio shook his head.

"Nah. Disappointed though! That was hardly a fight at all."

Only half paying attention, Taejoon kissed the new scar on his boyfriend's brow. It was something the two of them had started doing back in New Mexico, an unspoken agreement between them that started after Octavio had kissed the cut on Taejoon's palm. It had felt nice, and he'd done it in return to the burns on his boyfriend's shoulder. Small, intimate moments like these between them amidst all the chaos were always welcome.

Taejoon got to his feet after making absolutely sure Octavio wasn't injured before approaching Chunky the Hellhound slowly, seeing that the beast was licking the blood from the meat off the floor.

“Poor bastard,” Octavio commented as he walked up to it, picking up another package of meat—pork sausages—and ripping the plastic off. “She was starving that thing.”

He tossed the sausages towards Chunky, who snatched them out of the air with satisfied growls, slobbering everywhere. Taejoon felt a little pity towards it, but also wanted to get far, _far_ away from it. The memories of Tartarus he’d tried squashing down were starting to come back, and he felt like he was going to get sick. He turned on his heel, looking for his sword, and when he found it he sheathed it and told Octavio,

“Let’s get back to Ramya before the police come. I don’t think we’ll be able to explain the wreckage.”

“I can’t believe you did this all without me. You have _all_ the fun.” He heard the metal joints of Octavio’s legs behind him, but they stopped suddenly and the other man said, “Wait, ‘Joon—’Joon, hold up, look.”

Turning around, he saw that Chunky the Hellhound was nosing at Octavio’s jacket, as if expecting more pork sausages to come spilling out. He’d never seen a hellhound act so...subdued, but he supposed it made sense. The beast had been starving for so long, tethered to a being who represented famine, and Octavio just happened to be there with food when the connection broke. It trusted him, or at least, expected more food out of him.

“Let’s go,” Taejoon said, beckoning for his boyfriend to follow. “It won’t be able to keep up in the truck.”

“But—” Octavio turned around, scratching the hellhound under its jaw. “He’s so hungry, Taejoon—can we keep him?”

He felt his jaw slacken. “ _What_?”

“Look at him! He’s drooling!”

“It’s a _hellhound_ ,” Taejoon said loudly, unsure if Octavio had been hit on the head at some point in time. “It’s from the _Underworld_.”

Octavio wasn’t listening, instead leading the huge dog back to the meat aisle, where he tore open more packages and fed ground turkey to it. Taejoon stomped after his boyfriend, wanting to get _out_ of here as quickly as possible, not wanting to deal with the police so soon after the In-N-Out Incident™.

“ _Octavio_ ,” he hissed, jerking his head towards the doors, which were finally free of panicking mortals trying to get through. “Let’s. _Go_.”

“I’m not leaving this little guy behind,” Octavio whined, and Chunky seemed to whine in unison. “Pleeeeeease, I’ll feed him, and he can sleep on my bed!”

“We _share_ a bed!”

“Well, _you_ can sleep on the couch, then!” Octavio threw his arms around the hellhound’s neck, and Taejoon’s heart hammered in his chest with fear as he expected the thing to take a bite out of his boyfriend’s face. It didn’t, but his hand hovered over his sword just in case.

“Pleeeeease, he’s so hungry, I don’t wanna just—”

“We can kill it and it’ll return to the Underworld,” Taejoon said, and the other man gasped dramatically. “It’ll return to normal down there. It’ll be happy.”

“I’m not killing him!” Octavio’s tone switched from scandalized to...baby-talk? “ _Aww, papí, ¿eres tú un pequeño perrito?_ Yes you are! Are you hungryyy? Yes you are!” 

Taejoon could not _believe_ that this was happening. Still trying to convince his boyfriend that this was a horrible _awful_ idea, he said 

“That thing is going to eat you when you’re sleeping.”

“No he won’t,” Octavio said, patting the top of Chunky’s head. “You’re a good boy, aren’t you? Huh, chico?”

 _Ssibal._ They didn’t have _time_ to argue; Taejoon could hear police sirens right outside the store. The cops were on top of them. Running his hand through his hair, Taejoon looked this way and that before spotting a back entrance. Debating with himself, he finally turned towards Octavio and said through grit teeth,

“ _Fine_. You may keep it.”

“I love you,” Octavio said.

“But it is sleeping outside.”

“What if I made _you_ sleep outside?” Octavio shot back, but he seemed to be joking as he grabbed an armful of meat packages. They ran out the building using the back entrance, dodging out of sight of all the emergency vehicles. Chunky the Hellhound stayed close to their heels, and Taejoon kept expecting for it to jump him now that his back was turned, but it seemed more interested in the package of Italian meatballs in Octavio’s arms.

Ramya was waiting in her red Toyota, looking at the Sam’s Club with wide eyes, and when she saw them approaching she stepped out of the driver’s seat and slammed the door behind her.

“About _time_ , I was about to leave you two behind and— _is that a bloody hellhound?!_ ”

“Taejoon said I could keep him,” Octavio said proudly. Chunky had stealthily stolen the meatballs from Octavio’s arms and was now tearing into the carton by their feet.

Taejoon half-expected her to protest, say that there was no _way_ the damned thing would set foot inside her vehicle. Instead her eyes lit up, and she said,

“No way, _really_? You two plonkers have all the fun without me! I always wondered how these things would do as pets.”

“Am I outnumbered here?” Taejoon asked, full of disbelief. 

“Heroes!”

The three of them turned to see Pecan galloping towards them, that weird jog satyrs did due to their goat legs. He had changed out of his unflattering janitor’s uniform, now wearing regular jeans and a shirt that read _KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD._

“Thank you so much for ridding us of Limos! She’s been—” Pecan noticed Chunky and screamed. “Di immortales, why is that thing still alive?!”

“He’s mine now,” Octavio said, patting Chunky's head.

“May the gods have mercy on your soul. Please keep that thing away from me.”

Octavio tore open a package of chicken breasts and tossed one into the distance. Chunky chased after it with a bark that sounded like a booming cannon.

“I believe we came here for a reason,” Taejoon said through grit teeth, a bit peeved with the day’s events; Limos and the hellhound and now, his hunger. While he no longer felt like dying, his stomach was still rumbling slightly. “You know how I feel about balance, Pecan.”

It was kind of hard to sound serious when saying the name ‘ _Pecan_ ’. Ramya snickered at him.

The satyr’s cheeks flushed, and he nodded rapidly, bowing a little towards him.

“Right, yes, of course! Information on the daughter of Ares...all I have to say is, travel further east, and find the sorceress. There, you will find Anita Williams.”

“ _‘Find the sorceress’_ —look, we came for information, not a riddle,” Ramya said, and Pecan gave her a weird look. “Who’s the sorceress?”

“Who are _you_?” Pecan asked, sounding confused. "I don’t recognize your smell.”

“That would be the smell of me.”

“ _Where_ east?” Taejoon interrupted, and Pecan looked back towards him, though his eyes kept darting furtively to Ramya, as if disturbed by her unrecognizable scent.

“Houston,” Pecan said. “We satyrs keep in contact with each other, and last week one of my friends, Stickybob, said—”

“Stickywhat?” Octavio snorted.

“—that Anita Williams, daughter of Ares, was there! In Houston!”

“But...why?” Taejoon asked.

“I don’t know. All I know is, the sorceress _might_ know.”

“Yeah, but _who’s_ the sorceress?” Octavio asked, impatient. Anita was one of the few people that Octavio respected, and he was the most eager to find her.

“I don’t know, I swear!” Pecan threw his hands up in surrender. “I’m just the janitor!”

“Eh, leave ‘im alone.” Ramya patted the hood of her red Toyota lovingly. “Sheila can take us to Houston just fine.”

“How long will it take?” Octavio asked as Pecan scampered off, seeing that they were through with him. “Texas is so big. I fucking hate it here.”

“Two hours, I think,” Taejoon said, frowning. “But Houston is a big area. Where would we..?”

“Does she have family in Houston?” Ramya asked, and he and Octavio exchanged glances. They’d never really asked Anita about her private life all that much; being the oldest camper, she’d had a level of authority around her that seemed nigh-untouchable. Unapproachable.

Now, that was coming back to bite them in the ass.

“Call camp, maybe?” Taejoon suggested. “The Ares cabin might know.”

Octavio was pulling his phone out of his pocket one-handed as he spoke, mumbling something about calling Ajay to brag to her that they’d destroyed a Sam’s Club. Taejoon climbed into the passenger’s side of the truck, picking up his backpack and rifling through it to make sure that he still had some golden drachmas to send an Iris message with. 

Octavio approached the truck, and he briefly hoped that his boyfriend would forget Chunky the Hellhound—but then he whistled, and the hellhound came bounding towards the truck, its tongue lolling out. Octavio managed to get it into the bed of the truck by putting the remaining chicken breasts in a corner, and when he was finished he climbed into the backseat, looking satisfied with himself.

“We should stop by a pet shop and get him a bed,” he said.

“There is not a bed big enough in the world for that thing,” Taejoon said dryly. 

“A collar, at least! In case he gets lost!"

"You're doing this on purpose to spite me."

Octavio leaned forward in his seat, giving Taejoon a big smile. He sometimes couldn't fathom the fact that he had once actively made the choice to leave this man behind.

"So what if I am, cariño?" He teased. "What are you gonna do about it?"

Taejoon rolled his eyes, and as he did so, noticed two uniformed police officers looking at their truck. He turned to Ramya and murmured out of the corner of his mouth, “Step on it.”

“Hehe, yessir,” she said, putting the truck into gear, and sent them practically flying out of the parking lot.

"I can't believe we destroyed a Sam's Club. We are _so_ sexy," Octavio said from his place in the backseat.

Taejoon's stomach was rumbling, so he quietly asked Ramya to take them to the nearest restaurant before turning to glare at the other man.

"We did _not_ destroy a Sam's Club," Taejoon said back.

"Yeah we did, and we looked sexy doing it!"

"Do not tell Ajay we did that."

"Already did."

" _Octavio._ "

His boyfriend patted the spot next to him in the backseat, winking in a way that made heat rise to Taejoon's cheeks. "Why don't you come back here and we can talk about it?"

"Quit being gay in my car," Ramya said as Taejoon mimed squeezing the other's neck. "And for the love of Jupiter, make sure that the hellhound doesn't drool on my guns back there."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehehe i hope u guys had fun !! more coming soon >:3
> 
> this is for my friend siri who has been so wonderful to me !!!!!! I LOVE U SIWI....THANKYOU

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from [dionysus](https://youtu.be/YmimK6HxqK4) again. thanks for reading !


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